The leading killer of the young and the healthy. And yet, it is a problem that we seem to want to forget, or are ignorant to the fact that it even exists. This day of remembrance comes in the middle of the most deadly time for teen drivers. Thousands of teens have already died this year, and thousands more will give their lives before the year is over. As the year comes to an end, we will have lost more young lives to car crashes than we’ve lost in the entire Iraq War.

So why aren’t people on our street corners with signs to save teen drivers? Why aren’t we demanding change in the realms of driver’s education. We know what the solution is: better laws, parental involvement and better driver’s training. So why aren’t we outraged that not enough is being done to solve this problem. I am not trying to minimize those lost in the Iraq War, but aren’t these young people also dying in vein?

The point of remembering those who are lost, in my opinion, is to carry on their legacy and to not allow history to repeat itself. If we forget why something horrible happens, we run the risk of having it happen again. In justifying the Holocaust, Hilter reportedly said, “For who remembers the Armenians?” As a society, we are choosing to forget the epidemic that is killing our teens in this nation.

It’s time for us to stand up and to demand that something be done to address the number one killer of teens. Laws need to be changed, parents need to be involved in the process, and teens need better in-car training to better prepare themselves for the dangers on the road. Hopefully, one day in the future, car crashes will no longer be the number one killer of our young and our healthy.